Salk Professor Thomas Albright Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Salk News

Salk Professor Thomas Albright Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

May 9, 2003

La Jolla, CA – Thomas Albright, a Salk Institute professor of neuroscience and director of the vision center laboratory, was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. On May 5, the academy named 187 fellows and 29 foreign honorary members to the nation’s oldest learned society.

Albright and his colleagues study the neuronal structures and events that lead to visual perception of motion, form and color. His work has unveiled the existence of multiple areas in the brain devoted to processing visual information from the eyes.

His work, by furthering the understanding of vision, may result in new treatments for a number of eye and brain-related vision disorders.

“Tom Albright has made important strides toward better understanding how the brain processes visual cues and creates what we know of as perception,” said Richard Murphy, president and CEO of the Salk Institute. “I’m delighted that the American Academy of Arts and Sciences has recognized Tom’s contributions to neuroscience.” Albright joins seven other fellows of the academy at the Salk Institute.

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences was founded in 1780 by President John Adams, James Bowdoin, John Hancock and other scholar-patriots. Each year, the academy elects noted scientists, scholars and world leaders as fellows or foreign honorary members. Among this year’s fellows or honorary members are United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, journalist Walter Cronkite, William Gates, Sr., co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and father of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, recording industry leader Ray Dolby and Nobel laureate physicist Donald Glaser. Albright was one of seven scientists elected for achievements in neurosciences, cognitive sciences and behavioral biology.

The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, located in La Jolla, Calif., is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to fundamental discoveries in the life sciences, the improvement of human health and conditions, and the training of future generations of researchers. Jonas Salk, M.D., founded the institute in 1960 with a gift of land from the City of San Diego and the financial support of the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation.